Portugal exceeds the European target of inviting 90% of the target population for breast cancer screening.

Nearly 98% of the population eligible for breast cancer screening has already been invited to take the exam, exceeding the European target set for 2025, the director of the National Cancer Program announced this Friday.

In an interview with Lusa on the eve of World Cancer Day (which is celebrated on Saturday), José Dinis said that “there is good news” regarding three population-based cancer screenings (breast cancer, colorectal cancer and cervical cancer). who managed to “frankly recover.”

“The great news is that with regard to breast cancer, we have already reached the European targets set for 2025 at the European level by inviting more than 90% of the eligible population,” emphasized the Program Director of the Directorate General of Health.

The oncologist emphasized the fact that almost 98% of the target population (women aged 50 to 69) had already been invited for screening, which he considers an “extraordinary fact”, mainly due to the “extraordinary collaboration” of the Liga Portuguesa contra o Cancer, which managed, together with the state, to effectively introduce screening in the area of ​​Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, an area that was in short supply.

For now, Portugal is “fully covered,” he said, arguing that it is now important that “adherence, which is still relatively low, is accompanied by availability for screening.”

Regarding screening for cervical and colorectal cancer, José Dinis said that while there are still challenges, “there is already a clear recovery” to pre-pandemic levels that are already at 2019 levels.

However, he acknowledged that the strategy to be followed in these two screenings would have to change and to do so the standards were revised, with the standard for cervical cancer pending publication and the standard for colorectal cancer still being revised.

“We think these two screenings can also give us a significant boost to surpass 90% of the invited eligible population by 2025,” as envisaged by the European Cancer Control Programme.

According to the General Directorate of Health, these screenings have shown a reduction in mortality of about 30% for breast cancer, 20% for colorectal cancer and 80% for cervical cancer.

José Dinis said the screening program will be extended to lung cancer, targeting heavy smokers, prostate cancer and stomach cancer, for which Portugal is “unfortunately” the “European champion”.

“It’s a trail [cancro do estômago] what the European Commission strongly recommends to countries with high incidence, and we are in the forefront,” he stressed.

The director of the program defended that the screenings had to go to “deep Portugal”.

The “big problem” is that the screenings cover “everyone,” he said, defending a process similar to what happened with the SMS call to the public for a covid-19 vaccine.

“It should be the same here. People need to be called regardless of whether they are far or close, because there must always be a center nearby so that a person is included in the search, because screenings save lives, ”he defended.